Librescu Film Wins Award

By COLlive.com reporter

A short film by a Lubavitch organization was named one of the winners in the 21st Annual Aegis Awards competition, a respected video/film production contest in the United States.

“Courage Under Fire” was honored by a distinguished panel of judges representing the industry professionals from across the country.

The AEGIS Awards are the video industry’s premier competition for peer recognition of outstanding video productions and non-network TV commercials.

The short documentary is about about the heroic acts of Professor Liviu Librescu OBM who saved the lives of his 22 students by blocking the door of his classroom from a gunman with his body; which cost him his life.

It was produced by Yankee Teitelbaum for the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCJFE), headed by Rabbi Shea Hecht.

The film was underwritten by Joseph Lovece, Jr. President and CEO of North Star Contracting Corporation and an international philanthropist.

When Lovece first heard of the heroic acts of Professor Librescu, he immediately joined with the NCFJE to see what could be done to publicize the heroism of a holocaust survivor turned hero.

First he awarded a stipend to over 30 Chabad Houses on Campus to enable them to spread the message and lesson of Professor Librescu. This message was spread through lectures and memorials in April and May of 2008.

This film was then produced in honor of the first anniversary of the Jewish professor’s murder to help continue to spread the message.

In 2009, the NCFJE was joined by former students of the professor, who had been saved by him on that tragic day, in honoring Mrs. Lebrescu at their Annual Awards Dinner.

So far, this film has been seen by over 200,000 viewers in public and parochial high school throughout the five boroughs of New York as well as on youtube.com (52,747 views).

VIDEO: “Courage Under Fire”